Burning Shadows
by Mystical Authoress
Summary: AU, starting at the Ballroom scene in the game. The person who approached Callista at the balcony wasn't Zael. It was someone else. Now Callista is forced to be in the company of one of her enemies-none other than one of Zangurak's right-hand men, Zesha. As the two clash in their views, it doesn't take Callista long to realize that he may be just as lost as her. (No tab for Zesha)
1. Capture

**Author note: I don't own the Last Story, nor do I own the instrumental pieces 'Burning Shadows' by Crystal Strings and 'Dance of Death' (aka Zesha's theme) from the Last Story OST which inspired me to write this fanfic.**

**...(insert head-desk here) I know I haven't updated anything in what probably feels like a millennia, and that I probably should, but this idea just won't get out of my head. It's an AU setting, starting when Callista is at the balcony in that ballroom scene that Zael and the other mercenaries are guarding at. It got me thinking...what if the person who approached Callista at the balcony wasn't Zael? What if it was someone else, the enemy? XD As always, this won't be updated often...as I seriously need to work on updating other fics...*anime sweatdrop here***

**Warning: AU, spoilers for the first few chapters of the game, possible pairings (which ones? Well...we'll find out eventually, as I have none planned at the moment...), violence, swearing, and other possible themes in the game.**

**Constructive Criticism would be great, and I hope that you read, review and enjoy! Thanks! XD**

* * *

_**Burning Shadows**_

* * *

_**1. Captured**_

* * *

Callista tried her best to smile as she was displayed in front of the other nobles like a prized pet peacock;_ pampered_, _docile (as if one could call her docile)_, and meant to have _all eyes_ _on her_. She didn't enjoy the way Jirall called her his_ 'muse,'_ nor did she necessarily enjoy the fact that he insisted on leading her towards where her uncle Count Arganan was sitting, so that they would sit alongside him.

As soon as she could, when she thought it was the best chance to, she began to depart towards the balcony.

"Where are you going, my muse?" Jirall's elegant (_obnoxious) _voice purred from behind her, but she merely responded with a stoic voice.

"I must apologize, Lord Jirall." She responded, barely turning her head to face him. "I feel somewhat woozy." She wasn't exaggerating-all of this standing around, being displayed like an object...it was completely sickening to her, completely abhorring. She needed air-_now._

"Wait! I-" She simply ignored him, stepping out of the ballroom and onto the balcony. Letting out a sigh, she walked towards the railing, leaning against it as she gazed at the scenery ahead of her.

She soon became so absorbed in her thoughts that she didn't notice the shadow of someone quite tall for a human, approaching her with slow, heavy, _(surprisingly gentle)_ footsteps. She didn't know that he was there, standing on a few footsteps behind her when he finally spoke.

"Should I assume that you completely _abhorred_ Lord Jirall's presence? Because, well, the look on your face wasn't one of sheer happiness of being engaged to your fiancé, Lady Callista..."

Callista froze. She paused, before turning to face the tall man in front of her. She didn't recognize him-he didn't look like any of the other nobles she'd walked past just now. Blond, straight hair fell just a little past his shoulders. He wore a long military-styled coat in the darkest shade of black, with matching trousers. The red shirt was only hint of colour on him-everything else about him screamed complete darkness, even the mask that obscured the upper half of his face from view. Callista wasn't sure if this was someone who was necessarily 'safe' to be around, but he had sounded concerned...

Was he _truly_ sincere for her? She couldn't be sure of that, yet.

She took a deep breath, before speaking. "Pardon me for changing the subject, but I'm afraid we haven't met..."

He nodded in response, hands clasped behind his back as he took a step forward. "That is true, Lady Callista." He responded quietly with a nod of his head. "I don't believe an introduction of myself is of any importance-not like Count Arganan, or Lord Jirall. Besides," He added, as if he was reminding her of something important, "This discussion is more geared towards _you_ than myself, milady..."

Callista had a bad feeling about this person by now. He was definitely not like any of the other nobles, and this sort of different wasn't a good thing, in this case.

The man continued to ramble on, seemingly unaware of her suspicion. "I'm not surprised that you keep sneaking out of the castle-anyone would go insane in that cage of a place like that, with people always keeping an eye on you and never giving you any privacy for yourself. You wake up and you can easily hear that someone has died, that others are suffering, and that others are abusing their power. Count Arganan abuses you with his power, because he sees you as nothing but some pawn in his game for power in the world..."

Callista had heard enough. "Who are you?" She finally spoke, glaring at him with all her rage. _"Who_ are you, and _what_ do you want?"

She heard him smirk. "I already mentioned, Lady Callista, that my name is of no importance to you. And if you must know why I so wished to discuss with you about yourself, it is merely because I want_ you."_

The next thing she'd realized, there was a scream _("Callista!"),_ arrows being fired, and her being swept into the man's arms, knife against her throat. Those moments were blurry for her-_it was so fast, almost too fast to comprehend_-and she realized that Zael was on the floor, slowly getting up as he groaned in pain, and other knights and mercenaries had either narrowly avoided the arrows or had been shot to death by them.

_"Come any closer and Lady Callista dies." _The masked man holding her growled, just as a familiar white knight entered the balcony, sword already unsheathed.

"Lady Callista..." She heard Therius murmur under his breath, before he pointed his sword at her captor. "Unhand her at once!" The white knight shouted.

Callista heard the man holding her smirk a bit. "Alright..._I will!"_

She was thrown out of his grasp...and right over the balcony railing.

The Countess-to-be let out a scream as she fell, trying not to look down. Sunlight blinded her temporarily, only to be blocked out by the shape of airships high above, dropping bombs on the city below. The screams of the Lazulis citizens echoed in her ears, before she realized that there were two people falling.

One of them was the masked captor. The other was none other than Therius. The two wrestled in the air, punching, yelling, kicking at each other, both determined to reach her first. Eventually, the captor triumphed, punching Therius sharply in the head before he let himself fall closer to her, grabbing onto her just before they could hit the ground, and-

The next thing she realized now was that she was in his arms again, and neither of them were injured. In fact, she was sure that they were at Lazulis Port now, with all the ships lined up at the docks. A person-no, Callista realized, _Gurak- _who looked awfully similar to her captor noticed them and walked over to them, a smirk playing at the edges of his lips.

"You captured the human Countess-to-be, brother?" He spoke, eyeing Callista with a mix of malice and pride.

Her captor nodded eagerly. "Indeed I did.." He smirked, looking down at Callista. It was then that she realized that there was a reddish aura about him, power and malice mixed in the air around him. His look-alike brother had a bluish aura instead, as if emanating a cool, collected air. "Is there anything else that needs to be done?"

The brother of the blue aura looked around, before shaking his head. "I believe it's all we need to do. Except..." He glanced at Callista. "She's skilled in _magic,_ remember? The House of Arganan _always_ was skilled in healing and light magic... Don't want my dear brother to get blasted in the face, correct?" There was something in his tone that sounded a bit whimsical about the whole situation, as if an attack against Lazulis was nothing but a joke.

Zesha merely smiled. "Right."

Callista felt herself tumble to the ground, and before she could get up, something blunt hit her head, immediately making her world go black in an instant.


	2. Captor

**_2. Captor_**

Therius woke up to the rattling of chains and cries of prisoners around him.

It was no surprise to him, now. He'd woken up hearing screams, and he fell unconscious hearing screams. He wasn't sure by now how many times he had blacked out by now. It was hard to tell while he was being beaten, because pain would become the central thing in his mind.

His sight had barely adjusted to the darkness when the opening of a cell door caught his attention.

He was back-the Gurak right-hand man of Zangurak, that is._ Zesha._ His captor, red aura burning fiercely around him, had the most disdainful grin on his face as he slowly approached the white knight, stripped of his armor and weapons. Therius knew too well why Zesha would come down here, to be seen among the other human prisoners. It was for the sake of trying to make Therius break.

Therius mentally called himself stupid for losing his guard when he fell off the balcony earlier, when Zesha punched him in the head. Had he blacked out while falling, he most likely wouldn't have had a safe landing-he could have died. Instead, he was lucid enough to flip about in the air and land on both feet, a bit steady, unshaky, but safe-or so he thought.

That moment had been when the other Gurak soldiers overhwhelmed him, and eventually one of them knocked him out in the chaos. Had he been just even _more _careful, surely he could have evaded capture...or at least, that was what Therius thought.

"Get up." He felt Zesha sharply kick him in the side. Before Therius could do a thing, the Gurak had bent down and lifted him into the air, holding him by the neck. Therius tried to struggle, but the effort was in vain-he was far too weakened by the beatings from Zesha earlier, and he knew that struggling would only make things worse. Yet still, he struggled. He wanted to get out of this place-but most of all, he _needed _to find Lady Callista, at the very least! Rescue her from her captors, at the very least get her away from them before they could catch up...

Zesha eyed him, malice glittering in the dark eyes as he shoved Therius against the brick wall behind him.

"How...pitiful." Zesha murmured softly, still grasping Therius by the neck. The white knight struggled to breathe as the Gurak captor leaned forwards to the point that their foreheads were touching, both pairs of eyes forced to gaze at one another. "I thought there would be more to you than just this struggling, weakened, body that can't even get itself to stand after being beaten so much."

Therius hated that tone in his voice. It was whimsical, a gentle mocking of worthless sympathy that couldn't really be sympathetic. If there was one thing the knight knew too well by now, this man that beat him was _sadistic_ to the core.

Therius couldn't even _speak_ a word in protest, to combat the vile sickness that poured from Zesha's lips. The captor had placed a shackle of some sort about his neck-a collar, to constrict his vocal chords from saying otherwise.

"I wouldn't make you wear that-" He gestured to Therius' collar, as he gently traced Therius' mouth with one hand- "If you had behaved from the very beginning. Obviously, though, you made your decision, human. Don't think it's coming off anytime soon."

Therius bit.

"Y-you..._You damned wretch!"_

Therius felt the heavy hand backhand him in the face, and Therius spat out blood, making its way to the floor as he coughed a bit. Zesha dropped Therius with the other hand, gazing at his cut fingers before glaring at the knight with complete rage in his eyes.

The next thing Therius felt were fists-one after the other. _One, two, three, four..._all aiming towards his torso, his face. He felt himself being flipped over so that his face was pushed against the floor, Zesha's hands in keeping his hands above his head as the other yanked at his blood-caked white hair. The aching cuts and bruises all over him sent a stronger jolt of pain to his head, and Therius couldn't suppress a pained groan.

Zesha yanked a bit on the white hair some more, undone from its neat braid earlier, and he leaned close to Therius' ear.

"Is_ that_ what you want?" Zesha hissed, the venom of his voice seeping into Therius' hearing. "You want more_ pain,_ you wretch? So be it."

Zesha withdrew himself, before bending down to pick up Therius by the neck again. The white knight felt himself grow limp in his captor's grasp, powerless to stop what came next.

One more punch, one more backhanded slap in the face, and Therius' world blacked out once more, as the screams of fellow human prisoners echoed in his ears.

* * *

Callista awakened, finding herself on hard, solid ground. Her vision was blurry at first, with nothing to be heard but her own breathing and the ticking of a clock. Her vision cleared to see a clock at the right wall of the room, though she couldn't see the time because there were silver , long bars standing vertically that obscured the view-

Wait...what?

She blinked a few more times, and her vision cleared and adjusted to the darkness around her. She soon realized that she was in a cage. Looking around for a door, she saw the lock on its door. She was stuck in here, for as far as she knew. At least it was spacious enough for her to move around a bit, but she would have to stay in a crouched or sitting position, not standing.

Where was she? Well, most likely captured by the Gurak, of course, but...what was this place? None of it looked familiar to her. There was a window at the far end of the room on the left wall, moonlight shining through. It was nighttime now, she realized, and she must have been unconscious for a good while. The engagement party to Jirall did take place in the past morning, after all.

Before she could try to figure out whose room this belonged to, a door opened from the far right. In walked none other than her captor-though dressed differently than when she first encountered him at the ball. He wore armor, now, and no mask, revealing his face. Two swords, sheathed, hung from the left and right hip as he glanced at her and closed the door behind him, before he sauntered over to her and got onto a knee to face her properly.

"So," He murmured with a sneer on his face, "The Countess-to-be finally awakens. I almost thought that I killed you earlier, but apparently you have the talent of surviving."

Callista said nothing at first, before speaking up. "Where am I? And who are you?"

The Gurak captor smirked leaning close to meet her face. "My name, I repeat, is of no importance to you. And if you must truly need to know of your location...well, I'm sure you can figure that out for yourself. You've been captured by the enemy. I can't think of a worse situation than this..." He withdrew from her just a little bit, before speaking again. "I would highly suggest that trying to escape would be the _worst_ of options. You don't want to end up like others that have tried-in fact, that may be even worse than merely being captured by the enemy, correct?"

It was then that she realized there was blood, dripping from the Gurak captor's hands. She shivered slightly at the sight-she didn't want to know whether he just _killed _someone with his bare hands, or...

Her captor chuckled a bit as he saw her paling face.

"Stay out of trouble. It's the best option to take-" He stopped speaking as soon as soon as he heard someone knock at the door. He withdrew completely from Callista, before he walked towards the door and opened it, a tray of food being put into his hands afterwards. "Zepha...thank you. Though...you know I don't eat that much."

Callista heard the familiar voice of her captor's brother, Zepha, respond. "I thought you might need something to eat, anyway. And...the extra is for the little Countess-to-be, according to Lord Zangurak." He drawled gently, chuckling a bit. "Good luck trying to bear with her presence in your own chamber, Zesha."

Zesha merely let out a groan. "Shut up, brother."

"What? It could be interesting..." The other murmured, a tender tone in his voice afterwards. "Never mind. I'll be seeing you later, brother."

Callista thought she heard Zesha smile, but she couldn't be too sure. "See you later..." He closed the door using his foot, holding the tray carefully with both hands as he set it onto the table. He paused, before he snatched a piece of bread-stale bread-from the tray and he shoved it through the bars of the cage.

"That's for you." Zesha hissed softly. "Lord Zangurak apparently doesn't wish to_ starve_ you. You better be grateful for it."

Callista looked down at the bread in her hands, before taking a bite out of it. At least it wasn't like they were going to starve her to death-not like the other humans that they might have taken prisoner. Watching as Zesha ate with his back to her, she counted her blessings as she quietly ate the stale bread in her hands. At the very least, she was not stuck in the castle with Jirall fawning for her attention.

Of course, being stuck sharing a room with your captor wasn't exactly an ideal situation, either.


	3. Adjusting

**_3. Adjusting_**

There were certain things about Zesha that Callista started noticing, during the first few days of her imprisonment.

The first one was that he didn't actually speak much to her, surprisingly, in contrast to what she had first thought. This meant that he didn't say good morning, or goodnight, but he usually just told her to stay out of trouble-as if she could really do much while being in a cage. She didn't really try to talk to Zesha, either, in fear that he would get angry about something that she said. Whenever he was in the room, he would glance at her occasionally in silence while he read through a few reports, or ate with his back to her-probably to ignore her presence as best he could.

In fact, the only person he ever really talked to, the only one he ever truly had conversations with, was his brother Zepha. Of course, the door would be closed, but Callista could easily make out muffled voices from behind, and occasionally they were loud enough for her to hear. It made her wonder if Zepha was the only one Zesha was close to. At least they had each other. For Callista, it felt like there was no one. Yes, it was nice to be with Zael that other day, but she didn't really know if she liked him as a friend or in a romantic way. She couldn't really be sure, for someone she just met.

The second thing was that he was incredibly modest-_so _modest to the point that he never dared to change in front of her. Ever. He nearly did strip down in front of her, but then he realized just as he was about to take off the chest plate that it _probably _wasn't a good idea. He retreated to the bathroom connected to his room, closing the door behind him as he cursed his stupidity under his breath.

If there was a third thing she would discover, it would be today. She just didn't know it yet.

* * *

Zesha let out a breath as he felt the cold air brush against his damp body. "Damn...you're getting better, brother. Your attacks are stronger-especially that fire-type one."

Both Gurak brothers were sweating bullets as they stood only a few paces across from each other. The two were training-it was something they did in their pastime when they didn't have much else to be doing. Earlier they'd gone through battle plans with Lord Zangurak in case the humans tried to come to the Gurak Continent and get Lady Callista back, and after that came a whole three-to be more precise, _three and a half hours straight-_of nothing but training, to prepare for the enemy attacking.

No other soldier in the Gurak army could match their skill, and Lord Zangurak had no time to spare for such training (not that he really needed any with the Outsider's power), so what _better _training opponents for the brothers than each other?

Zepha let out a small chuckle as he wiped his forehead with the back of his hand.

"You're improving, too." The magic-using Gurak responded, giving his brother a wry grin. "Ready to continue?"

Zesha merely mirrored his brother's grin, before lunging forwards-

And then suddenly collapsing onto the ground, dropping both the East Wing and West Wing as he held his head with both hands. The next thing he knew, Zepha was by his side, trying to hold him upright in a sitting position with one arm around his chest while the other arm's hand grasped his left shoulder.

"Brother?" Zesha could hear his brother's voice, hinting slowly towards panic. "Are you alright...?"

"I'm fine." The sword-wielder responded quietly, grasping his brother's hand on his shoulder with his right hand. "Just..._fatigue."_

Zepha turned Zesha's head to face him, full of concern. "You've been under what seems to be a lot more _stress_ than usual, brother. Is it..." He paused for a moment, before asking. "Is it because of that Countess-to-be, by any chance?"

"Well-" Zesha let out a breath, before responding. "In a way, yes."

"Does she dare question you-or Lord Zangurak?"

Zesha shook his head. "No, it's nothing of that sort. It's just that it's...uncomfortable with her being in my room so constantly. I understand that I have to keep watch over her, but it's just..." He paused, before trying to finish. "It's just...unnerving, to feel like I need to be on guard at all times around her, as she _is _the enemy..."

Zepha helped his brother stand, and he paused before speaking again. "You should get some rest, brother. The stress will not help your wellbeing in any way."

Zesha nodded quietly in response. "I will..."

With that, he left the Courtyard.

* * *

Callista was startled when Zesha stumbled through the door, nearly falling over as he leaned against the wall, holding his head with one hand. The Gurak captor was dripping with sweat-which probably meant he just went through some training or something earlier.

"Dammit..." She heard him mutter under his breath. "This hasn't happened in so long..."

Callista was unsure of what to do, and merely observed as Zesha opened up a desk drawer and took out a notebook and a pen, before starting to scribble in it furiously, biting his lower lip to the point that it started to bleed a bit. The look in his eyes was glazed with frustration, and she had a feeling the notebook was there to get rid of the stress. Despite his obviously unwell state, she thought she would try to ask.

"Are you alri-"

She was cut off when her captor stumbled, dropping the pen and notebook as he fell to the ground, hitting his head against the desk and ending up on his side. She couldn't stop herself from withholding a breath-she had never seen him in this weakened state before. If only she could reach him from this cage...then, maybe, she could try to help him. Just because he was her enemy didn't mean that he deserved to be in such a horrid state as the one he was in currently.

_"Brother!?" _She saw Zepha enter the room through the door, the blue aura about him wildly glimmering with panic. He knelt down by his brother's side, feeling his wrist for a pulse, before he glared towards Callista. _"I swear, if you had something to do with this, I'll...I'll.." _He gritted his teeth, before yelling out the last few words. _"I'll throw you in the dungeon, along the rest of the human filth!"_

"...Z-Zepha...?" Zesha's voice, obviously growing hoarse, caught his brother's attention. "What-"

"Don't speak." Zepha responded quickly, undoing the straps and buckles on his brother's armor. Callista looked away out of modesty as she heard him continue to speak. "You're _sick,_ aren't you? Why didn't you tell me!?"

"I-I didn't know-"

_"Dammit..."_ Zepha paused, lifting up his brother in his arms, before speaking up again. "Look, just try to relax. And rest. I'll be right back-I'll just inform Lord Zangurak in case..." He laid Zesha on the bed. "And _don't_ bloody try to _move!"_ With that being said, Zepha suddenly disappeared. Teleportation, Callista realized-being a magic user, Zepha must have had that ability...

She cringed as she watched Zesha writhe on the bed, his breathing becoming ragged, irregular. She had no idea if she could help him-could her healing powers be used to heal illnesses? Injuries, yes, but illnesses might be another case. Still, it wouldn't hurt to try. Slowly, carefully, she extended an arm towards him, trying to reach him. Unfortunately, her hand fell a few inches short of reaching him-she could barely get any closer to him. That didn't marr her efforts, though. She-

-She was forced to pull her hand back as Zepha suddenly reappeared in the room, kneeling by his brother's side.

"Are you still there...?" Callista could hear an almost pleading tone in Zepha's voice as he spoke. "Zesha...?"

Zesha let out a pained groan, his body still trembling a bit. Zepha paused, before grabbing his brother by the hand. Only an instant later, Zesha's body began to glow with a soft white light. Callista heard Zesha let out a trembling gasp, his body going limp as the light shone a little brighter. After a few moments, the light faded. Zepha let out a relieved sigh, before glancing at Callista briefly. He then turned towards Zesha, who let out a quiet breath as he lay in the bed.

"Z-Zepha...?" Callista heard Zesha's voice after a moment of silence. It was still a bit hoarse, but he sounded better than he was previously, at least.

"Zesha..." Zepha took a deep breath, before speaking. "Please...just rest for now. I don't want you killing yourself over all of this, _especially_ not-" He glanced at Callista, "Her."

Zesha didn't say anything, but he tried to nod, letting his head rest on the pillow as Zepha carefully covered him with a blanket. There was nothing but silence.

"Goodnight...brother." Callista finally heard Zesha mumble softly, tiredness leaking into his voice.

Zepha kept holding Zesha's hand, whispering_ 'goodnight'_ under his breath as his brother fell into a deep slumber. He paused, before turning towards Callista. He didn't say anything, but the disdain on his face showed too easily to her that he still suspected her of doing something wrong to his brother. It made perfect sense that Zepha wouldn't dare trust her-he, like many of the other Gurak, despised humans to the core. Zepha eventually turned towards his brother again, still remaining at his side as he slept.

Callista noticed the look in Zepha's eyes-not full of malice like he had shown to her just now, but rather full of fear, fear for losing his brother to whatever illness this was. Callista felt like this was all too familiar-when she lost her mother, and then her father...

The two siblings must truly be close to each other. Apart from Zangurak, their loyalties lied with each other. That was the third thing that Callista learned, as the lingering silence lulled her to sleep.


	4. Argue

_**4. Stubborn**_

Callista woke up to the sound of coughing, and to the sound of someone swearing.

"You're still damn sick, aren't you, brother? It's worse than I thought..." She heard Zepha mutter. There was the shuffling movement of him getting to his feet. "Look, I'll go inform Lord Zangurak about this when I go attend to him, and I'll inform you of anything important when I get back. Just...rest in the meanwhile. I'll get one of the servants to send some food to your room…"

"O-oh. Alright…" Zesha was heard responding quietly. Callista uncurled herself as best she could in the cage, watching as Zepha vanished in an instant, leaving her alone with Zesha. She winced as she heard him cough a few times, and she glanced towards the floor to see a discarded, wet towel, the armor, and the rest of the clothing crumpled on the ground. She guessed that Zepha probably got Zesha to bathe earlier, to get rid of all the sweat from the previous days' training and to help him freshen up a bit. Pausing for a moment, she managed a few words.

"Are you...faring any better from yesterday?"

Zesha's head immediately turned to face her, a bit surprised that she had spoken.

"Why would _you_ wish to know, human?" Her captor rasped, bringing a hand to his mouth as he coughed some more. "As far as I would guess, I had assumed that you wished the worst for me."

She frowned at this. "Not all humans are like that-"

_"Silence."_ He snapped back, still coughing a bit as he glared at her. "You filthy humans have never done any good towards us Gurak. Pretending to feel pity towards me is _not _going to earn you any favor."

Callista was a bit more frustrated with this. Couldn't he see that she was genuinely trying to be considerate towards him? "I'm not pretending. And I'm not pitying you, either. I'm just... concerned."

"Hmph. You lie, human..." He turned away from her, just as a servant walked into the room and quickly put a tray of food down on a table close to the bed, before exiting quietly. The two were silent once again.

Zepha reappeared, glancing at the food tray before turning towards Zesha. "Lord Zangurak informed me that we are still under preparation for those humans to come here and attack us. He told me to stay by your side until you are well enough…" He held his brother sit up in the bed, before bringing a glass of water to his mouth. "Drink."

Callista watched quietly as Zepha tended to his twin, coaxing him into eating and drinking at least some bread, vegetables and the water, and medicine that must have been bitter-she noticed the grimace on Zesha's face when he consumed it.

"Really," She heard Zepha scoff half-heartedly, "This is most likely the reason why you keep collapsing like this, because you don't eat enough to sustain yourself. You need to eat more, brother."

Zesha coughed a bit, before speaking. "I...know…"

Zepha still didn't look too pleased, although his expression softened a bit. "I know you are so willing to give whatever you didn't touch to those who don't have as much as us, but you won't have to worry about that anymore soon. Once those filthy humans are conquered…none of us will be in poverty. Lord Zangurak is sure of it."

Zesha merely nodded in agreement. "It will be so. When we find the Outsider, we will be free from the humans' oppression…"

His brother seemed to smile faintly, picking up the tray in both hands as he stood. "I'll let you rest." He spoke. "I'll be back in about an hour, brother. Sleep, in the meantime."

Zesha nodded, lying back down in the bed again as Zepha vanished again. Callista paused, unsure if she should say something. Then again, Zesha needed sleep, and so she said nothing instead. Instead, she pondered over what Zepha had mentioned earlier, about Zesha giving the rest of the food he got to the poorer of the Gurak. It was considerate of him, far more considerate than the guards back at Lazulis that stole food from the vendors instead of paying for it as they should have, all because they had a small bit of status. Still, though, Zepha had a point-one did need to eat enough to sustain oneself, whether they were human or Gurak.

Callista nearly fell asleep herself, a little later, and she would have if Zesha suddenly didn't speak up.

"Why must you humans be so…._stubborn_ about getting your menial points across?" She turned towards him to see that he was looking at her as he spoke. "You humans...are so insistent on thinking that such an incorrect point of view about things is correct, no matter how wrong they are. Can they not realize that they are the ones in error?"

She paused, thinking about it for a moment before speaking. "I don't think it just applies to humans. Anyone can be stubborn about a certain point of view if they're so...passionate about it. And..." She paused again, letting out a breath before finishing. "A point of view about something like stubbornness of humans be seen in different ways. There is no wrong or right answer in that-you can't discern it for yourself like that."

He turned away from her, silent and refusing to say anything else.

She let out a sigh, shaking her head and turning away from him. Trying to at least get along somewhat with him would not be easy, if it was even possible.

* * *

Therius lay on the dungeon floor in his cell, doing nothing but thinking and recovering from his injuries.

Thinking, because he was still trying to think of a way to find Lady Callista and to escape this place. Recovering, because those injuries would definitely need time to heal, since there was no healing mage by his side to assist him.

Zesha hadn't come down to the dungeon for the past two days, and for this the white knight was grateful. Perhaps the Gurak captor had gotten bored of beating him so constantly, and-

-No. He did not want to think that someone else, a fellow human, was forced to take his place. He then thought of Callista again, before thinking-

_He can't be hurting her, can he...? Could he be...?_

And his mind immediately starting thinking faster, harder, for a way to try to find Lady Callista and to get out of this place.


	5. Stop

_**5. Stop**_

Callista woke up again to hear vomiting. As her eyes blinked open with alert, she realized the sound of it was coming from the bathroom, the door open. She couldn't see Zesha in there, but she had a feeling that whatever illness had occupied his body was doing a worse toll to him than anyone else had assumed beforehand.

As soon as she spotted her captor walking out of the bathroom (fully dressed this time in his armor, of course), wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, that was when she spoke up.

"Are you alright?"

He looked surprised, yet again, at her concerned tone, but he tried to keep his face stoic as he answered.

"I am fine, human." He muttered in response, in a tone that made Callista think otherwise.

"You're still sick, aren't you-"

He shook his head. "I cannot let this mere _trifle_ keep me from my duty to Lord Zangurak. It is nothing….I..." He let out a soft cough, before finishing. "I will be fine."

She still wasn't convinced. Despite this, though, she stayed silent for a moment, watching as he opened up a nearby closet, glancing at her once before letting out a breath as he glanced at the items of clothing contained in his closet.

"Is there anything wrong?"

Zesha looked a bit hesitant, perhaps even embarrassed, before he turned to face her. "Well...apparently Lord Zangurak wishes to have you on display tonight at a ball." He responded, wincing slightly. "And, well, a ball would therefore require some sort of formal….dress…"

That was when Callista got the idea. "Oh. You mean-"

_"Yes."_ He responded, cutting her off as he looked away from her, averting her gaze. "You will be, ahem, _measured_ soon. I would suggest that you just do what they ask, and even if you tried to escape, I'm sure it wouldn't be exactly good for one to be running about unclothed."

"Oh…"

And then that was when the tailors entered the room.

It was awkward, being measured for the ball. Having to strip down in front of enemy tailors was a bit embarrassing, with all of them fussing over every single inch of her body. What was even _more_ embarrassing was that Zesha _still_ had to keep watch over her, so she was grateful when he covered his own face with both hands to avoid seeing her unclothed state.

At the end of the entire time (which was the span of about two hours or so), the tailors had produced the most stunning dress that they had ever seen. It was a red, off-the-shouder dress, a long, perfectly flowing skirt that reached Callista's ankles, with black lace at the hem of the dress and as a sash at the waistline. The dress was so well-fitted that there was absolutely no need for a corset to be worn underneath it, something that Callista was a bit grateful for. There were black, sparkling flats to be worn with the dress, as well as a black rose hairclip to match.

Zesha had been absolutely speechless-probably because Callista doubted that he had ever been present for someone to have custom clothing made for them, let alone a female human.

"Doesn't it look splendid on her, Master Zesha?" One of the tailors asked, the Gurak's eyes widening in the hope for approval.

He let out a breath. "Yes. It's perfectly presentable for tonight. That will do."

The tailor smiled a little at this. "Will you be wearing matching clothing, Master Zesha?"

He glared at the tailor. "Shut up before I consider throwing you through a wall. Understood?"

The tailor bit her lower lip, awkwardly going silent at once.

* * *

The afternoon had been very uneventful after that, leaving Callista to do nothing but think while Zesha went to go through some more training with Zepha. And then, the evening arrived...and she was dressed in the red dress and brought to the Ballroom by Zesha, where Zangurak and the Gurak nobles were eagerly awaiting her presence.

She glanced at her Gurak captor/escort. He was wearing the same attire as the first time he'd encountered her at Lazulis Castle, including the mask. She noticed all too well that they matched, colour-wise, at least, and that Zesha was completely avoiding her gaze as he spoke.

"Just...don't make a fuss, and you'll survive this." He muttered quietly. "I assume that you have been to such balls before, so you would know well of what to do."

_Yes, _Callista thought, _I know. Keep silent and let myself be displayed like a prized pet, do whatever people tell me to do..._

She took a deep breath, before the two entered the Ballroom.

The layout of the entire Ballroom was extremely similar to what it looked like back at Lazulis Castle-tiled flooring, high ceiling, a staircase at the entrance that split into two ways going down... It made the Countess-to-be feel the same as she felt back at Lazulis during the engagement party; displayed like an object, to be shown off as if she was a polite, _submissive_ woman who always obeyed her uncle, Count Arganan.

Instead of applause, though, the Gurak nobles gossiped with one another or snickered as she was led down the stairway, towards Lord Zangurak. She saw the huge, hulking form, saw the aura of red that sparked from his arm, glowing with the power of the Outsider...and immediately she nearly froze, completely intimidated. This man wasn't just malicious like Zepha, or stubborn like Zesha. No, this man was truly one to be feared already. If someone dared to anger him, she didn't want to think of how terrible the consequences could be.

"So..." Zangurak's deep voice rumbled, as if the very earth around them was about to shake. "This is Lady Callista Arganan..." He chuckled a bit, before turning towards Zesha. "Zesha, the guests are in need of entertainment." He seemed to smirk. "Perhaps a dance with Lady Callista is in order...?"

Callista's eyes widened, turning towards Zesha, who looked just as surprised as her.

"Lord Zangurak, do you truly mean-"

"Go on, Zesha." Zangurak merely responded, a wry grin on his face. "I'm sure _you_ would like some entertainment yourself in some way. Isn't that so, Zesha?"

Zesha glanced at Callista, before he slowly led her away from Zangurak, to a clearer space. Standing in front of her, he gripped her waist carefully with one hand, while he awkwardly put his other hand on her shoulder. Leaning close to her, he whispered something-a warning-into her ear, just as the music started to play.

"Just keep up with me."

"Wha-"

She didn't get to finish her sentence.

The dancing was something she wasn't used to, something that she wasn't prepared for. The dainty movements one did during, say, a waltz or something was nothing like how they danced here at the Gurak Castle, that was for sure.

Unlike others that she had danced with, other suitors, Zesha was..._violent._ No, he didn't hit her or anything, but his movements were rigid, yet roaring with such a ferocity that Callista doubted anyone else could match. And his eyes-his eyes never once stopped observing her as she struggled to keep up with him. His gaze never wavered-he just simply helped her through the movements, as if it was the simplest thing to do in the world. This was so unlike other suitors that danced with her (Jirall included). They would have just let her take the fall instead.

As soon as the music came to a halt, that was when she nearly stumbled, tripping backwards over her own feet. She closed her eyes, expecting to hit the ground.

Instead, a strong arm wrapped around her waist while a hand grabbed the back of her head gently, but with a firm grip. Her eyes opened to see Zesha's eyes staring right into her own, the facial expression on his face a mixture of discomfort, frustration, and possibly a hint of concern. As he helped her to stand upright, the two turned to see Zangurak, who now had his attention towards Zepha. The blue-aura right-hand man of Zangurak was holding a whip in both hands, watching hungrily as a certain white knight was tied to a nearby column by his wrists, stripped of his armor.

Callista realized immediately who it was.

"Therius..."

Therius, with visible scratches and cuts all over his upper half, weakly turned his head. His emerald eyes, once full of a passion to protect his people, had grown dull, but Callista swore that there was a spark in his eyes as he noticed her presence.

"Lady Calli-"

Zepha only grinned, casually holding the whip in one hand as he glanced at Zesha, before he pulled back his arm and pushed forwards.

_Snap._

Some of the Gurak nobles began to laugh as Therius' face slowly contorted into pain, the never-ending lashings bringing him more and more pain. Zesha grabbed onto Callista's wrist tightly as she grew pale from seeing the atrocious act in front of her.

_"Don't make a fuss."_ He hissed into her ear, reminding her of the easily possible consequences that could follow if she did.

She chose, at that very moment, to ignore it. Just as Zepha was about to lash the white knight for what seemed like the thirty-ninth time.

_"Stop it!"_

And with that, she wrung her wrist free from Zesha's grip and summoned a magic attack, launching it across the ballroom and sending Zepha painfully sprawling to the ground. There was silence for a moment, as everyone turned to face her.

The next thing she realized, Zesha had her pinned to the wall, holding her wrists above her head with one hand while the other hand held one of his swords to her throat.

"I _told _you," He growled, his hot breath "_Not _to make a fuss, you filthy human. And you...you..." A complete snarl was on his face as he spat out the words. "You dare to hurt _my brother! _Do you know what you have-"

_"Zesha, enough."_

Zesha turned towards Zangurak, eyes full of disbelief. "Lord Zangurak..."

Zangurak's eyes glowered with disappointment. "Do what you wish with the Arganan girl, but _not_ here, Zesha. Is that understood?"

Zesha didn't a say a word-all he did was nod in agreement, bowing a little.

"Good. You may go, Zesha."

* * *

The next thing Callista knew was that she was pushed against a wall, her body sliding to the ground beneath her.

Zesha let out a growl, looking down at her with absolute dismay.

_"Get up."_ He snarled, discarding his swords onto the nearby desk. Callista tried to get to her feet quickly, but as soon as she was fully standing, he backhanded her in the face, causing her to fall again. He didn't dare bother helping her up-instead, he kept her pinned to the ground, his hands grabbing both her wrists tightly stuck to the ground as he got on both knees to lean close and snap at her face.

Callista didn't know what to say. She didn't know what to do. Trying to defend herself would get her hurt-even more hurt that she began to expect now. She was completely helpless to her captor, her struggle against him in complete vain.

"You have _disgraced_ me." He hissed, making complete eye contact with her. "You have hurt my brother. You, human, will _pay_ for-"

He stopped speaking as his eyes widened in shock, his grip going slack on her as he suddenly collapsed. Callista let out a gasp as he landed on top of her, hearing him cough and hack, struggling to breathe. She didn't know why this was happening at first, but then she remembered.

_Zesha is still sick._

Her eyes widened at this realization, and with all her might she pushed him off her, the Gurak captor landing on his back as he still struggled to breathe. His body convulsed for a moment.

She couldn't let him suffer like this-even if he was her enemy, even if he had just tried to beat her to pieces. That was just...wrong.

Without saying a word, she summoned her magic, slowly, shakily, and directed it towards her captor. Instantly afterwards, light trailed from her hands and poured all over the Gurak captor, bathing him in light. Zesha was letting out what appeared to be quiet sobs, now, but at least he wasn't convulsing anymore, nor struggling to breathe as he had been before.

When he finally starting breathing normally again, she stopped using her magic. Slowly, cautiously, she pulled herself into a sitting position as he kept breathing, his face turned away from her. And then, he spoke.

"...I forgot."

"Forgot?" She blurted it out before she could stop herself. "Forgot what?"

"..." He didn't say a thing for a moment, still breathing as he kept his face hidden from her. "I forgot that...the House of Arganan would contain such vast capabilities for a higher level of magic."

She didn't know what to say in response. She didn't know whether it was safe to move him, to try to ask if he was alright, but for now he at least seemed healthy enough so that he wouldn't die on her. Glancing at the bed, she pulled the blanket off the bed and slowly covered him with it up to the shoulders. He turned towards her, letting out a breath of surprise, but he didn't say a word for a moment. It was hard to see in the darkness of the room what his expression was made up of-whether it was sadness or surprise, or gratitutde for what she had done for him.

"Why?" He finally asked.

_Why? _Callista wondered what else he could have said. _I nearly killed you._

"Because..." She didn't know what to say. "It's not right for me to just stand there and watch you die."

He didn't say a word. Neither did she.

Both were silent for the rest of the night.


	6. Privacy

**_6. Privacy_**

Callista awoke, for once, on the floor and not in a cage.

It took her a few moments to remember what exactly had happened tonight, glancing at the scarlet, fitted dress adorning her body, and then at where Zesha was once convulsing on the ground, except that his presence had been replaced by a trail of clothing leading to the bathroom. She figured he must have woken up earlier than her, stripped, and went to go bathe. It made perfect sense for the Gurak warrior needing to freshen up a bit, after all.

As she slowly got to her feet, she looked around the room a bit, before noticing a journal and a pen beside it, resting on the desk nearby.

She paused, before slowly walking towards the desk. She had seen Zesha holding it and writing in it several times before-it was definitely _his _journal, for all she knew. It made her wonder what exactly he wrote in it...

And she felt a bit ashamed, stepping back and standing still. It was _his _property. It wouldn't be right for her to touch it, no matter how curious she was.

And then, that was when Zesha opened the door-right before closing it immediately with a loud bang. Callista, startled, looked up towards the bathroom door, before speaking, unsure if he had suddenly collapsed again, or something else bad had happened to him.

"A-are you alright...?"

There was silence for a moment, before Zesha's muffled voice answered her.

"No. Not now."

She was confused. "And_...why_, exactly?" She managed to say, before he spoke again.

"...I..." He hesitated, before responding, voice full of embarrassment. "I forgot my clothes."

_Oh._

Callista didn't want to imagine how mortified her captor must be at the moment to be in the nude (no probably wrapped in a towel, at least-_hopefully_), and to most likely mentally calling himself an idiot for forgetting to grab a change of clothing to bring to the bathroom to be worn after bathing. She didn't want to imagine him naked either-no, not a good idea either. Knowing his modest nature, he was not going to march out there in the nude to grab clothing-something she was grateful for, but still, not necessarily great for Zesha, either, as he had his duties to Lord Zangurak to get to, and being naked wasn't going to help anything.

"Erm..." She paused, before speaking again. "Perhaps I could, um, grab some clothing for you?" Looking around, she noticed the pieces of armor lying on a nearby dresser, and started to walk over towards them. "I could-"

That was when Zepha walked into the room, glancing at Callista before glancing at the bathroom door and then at the armor lying on the dresser. The captor's brother then let out a sigh, shaking his head as he walked past Callista to grab the armor.

"Oh brother," He murmured quietly. "You idiot..."

"I'm not an idiot." Zesha protested from inside the bathroom.

"Yes you are, brother. Good morning." Zepha muttered back, grabbing all of the armor and whatever clothing to be worn underneath it from the dresser. He then carried the pile of to-be-worn material, and knocked on the bathroom door. "Get dressed, quickly. Lord Zangurak needs to speak with us as soon as possible."

The door opened, and a bare arm grabbed all of the clothes before pulling it into the bathroom, the door closing as Zesha spoke up again. "Yes, brother..."

Zepha glanced at Callista, finally acknowledging her presence as he spoke. "I see the pretty peacock is out of its cage for the second time..."

Callista paused, averting her eyes from Zepha for a moment, before turning towards him and speaking without realizing it. "I never went back in that cage last night."

Zepha looked a bit...suspicious at this. "Oh...?" He paused, before glancing at the journal on the desk. "Is that so...? Makes me wonder what exactly happened after you both left. He would have written it, if you won't tell me..." He nearly smirked, before picking up the journal and flipping it over.

She was tempted to scowl at him. "That's your brother's journal..."

"I know." Zepha merely responded, flipping through the pages. "He and I read each other's journals. None of us could hide anything from each other. It has always been like that. Always..." He took a deep breath, before reading the latest journal entry aloud. "The ball was infuriating. The human female _attacking my brother_ was infuriating. Being _humiliated _in front of Lord Zangurak was infuriating. Seeing my_ brother's_ disappointed expression was the most infuriating of all. I hate it when my brother gets mad. Last night was no exception."

_Last night? _Callista thought to herself. Zesha must have written this entry earlier this morning, then...

"I intended to shut up the human as soon as I got back to my quarters, but my attempts were..._short-lived_, unfortunately. Apparently I was actually still sick-_damn_, she _was_ right all along-and-" Zepha stopped halfway through looking up at Callista for a moment, before looking at the entry and continuing to read, worry overtaking his expression. "-and I ended up collapsing, convulsing, and coughing so much pain. Every breath I tried to take was full of pain, ever breath taken away was even worse. I thought I was going to die. And then the next thing I realize is that...she just saved my life. I forgot that the House of Arganan was skilled in magic, and-"

That was when Zesha stepped out of the bathroom, fully dressed and somewhat bewildered at the sight of his brother reading _his own journal _aloud in front of Callista. "Morning," He managed to say, as Zepha put the journal back onto the desk. "Zepha, I'm-"

The next thing that happened was that he was pinned against the wall, both of Zepha's swords pressed against his throat. Callista moved forward instinctively-to stop Zepha from killing his own brother on the spot-but a sharp, glare of daggers stopped her from coming any closer.

"You nearly _died _last night," Zepha growled, his face contorted into a snarl, "And you didn't inform me of it."

Zesha let out a few shallow breaths, trying to regain a sense of calmness as he spoke. "Brother, I-"

"Was in too much _shock?_ Too _scared?_ Didn't want to be seen as something_ helpless?" _The red and blue auras emanating from their beings lit up, and Callista had to look away for a moment, not used to the burning shadows around them being so bright. "Zesha, I thought that _you_ would know better, in all damnation..."

"I-"

"What if you nearly died like_ last night,_ and I didn't know and pushed you too far in training, or in some other situation!? You have to_ tell_ me these things, dammit, before I do something like that!" The other snapped back, sheathing both swords as he leaned forwards, touching foreheads with Zesha at this point. Callista felt a twinge of pity for her captor-Zesha looked completely afraid of his twin brother right now.

It was then that Zepha's facial expression softened, and he let out a breath as he spoke again. "Look, just...don't delay such information being sent to me. Understood? I don't want to lose you."

Zesha let out a breath, his expression becoming calm. "Yes. I-I understand, Zepha..." He glanced at Callista as Zepha backed away, and then he spoke again. "We should report to Lord Zangurak-he is probably disappointed by our lateness already."

Zepha nodded, before the two simply teleported out of the room.

Callista was unsure of how to react to this, to the two twins' actions just now. Did they truly just-

Did _Zepha_ just read his brother's private journal and then threaten him about it? Did_ Zesha_ just submit to the threat? How-

_How did these two interact, exactly?_

Callista shook her head, sitting on the floor as she let out a breath. There was only so much she could understand about them-but maybe, one day, she could fully understand how these two thought. It was apparent that they were close siblings, but this was far more than she ever expected. She wondered if it was even possible to figure out how these two really thought and followed each other and Lord Zangurak.

Then again, she had no idea how long she was going to be stuck with them. She might as well get used to it, no matter how strange it could be.


	7. Frustration

**_7. Frustration_**

Callista sat on the ground quietly, unsure of what to do, when there was a knock at the door before it opened.

"Master Zesha?" Callista recognized the Gurak to be the tailor from the day before. "I have your-" She blinked in surprise to see a Callista out of her cage and no sign of Zesha. "Excuse me, but do you happen to know where Master Zesha is?"

Callista herself was a bit surprised-this tailor was actually a bit kinder than the other Gurak she had encountered so far. She also noted that this Gurak was...a little different in appearance than most. She had more human-like features, ash-blonde hair tied back in a neat ponytail, and she looked about only a few years older than Callista herself. There was a red sash about her waist, with several pins and needles sticking through it. Her pale orange shirt and brown trousers matched perfectly with the dark auburn boots, showing not just her sense of style as a tailor, but also showed that she was above all tailors-this one was the crème de la crème of them, Callitsa betted. Why else would she have been able to make that red gown that Callista was still wearing today?

"Um-" Callista shrugged slightly. "I-I don't know. I haven't seen him since this morning."

The tailor frowned. "Phooey." She muttered quietly, putting the tray down on Zesha's desk before speaking up again. "Well, that's a shame. The food is going to get cold if he doesn't get back soon." She paused, before crouching down to face Callista properly, eyes full of some catlike curiosity. "Did he wear matching clothing with your outfit after all, by any chance? I wish I had been at the ball to see it..."

The Countess-to-be paused for a moment, before responding. "Yes, he did." She did not say anything else about the ball, however. She didn't want to think about it.

The tailor smiled a bit at this. "Mm, you two would have looked lovely together. And I must say, you're actually quite pretty for a human."

"Erm...thank you..."

Why was the tailor being so nice to her? Perhaps there were some that really weren't all that bad, after all. Not like Zepha, who was obsessively worried about his brother, nor like Zesha, who was forced to submit to Zepha's obsession with him. No, this one seemed...well, relatively less crazy than everyone else she had encountered, at least. That was good.

The tailor paused, completely sitting on the floor facing her now as she spoke. "You probably wonder why I'm just talking to you so casually, aren't you?" Callista nodded in response, and the tailor continued speaking. "I just think that there has to be more than just we Gurak and you humans fighting each other so constantly. I dislike it. It's only done more bad than any good."

Callista was even more surprised, now. There were others, she realized, that thought alike her about the war. She wasn't the only one that knew that there were faults from both sides. "Then...why don't you talk to someone-I mean, your kind-about this?"

The tailor frowned. "They're too caught up in the war. Even Master Zesha, unfortunately. I can't even confide in him, the one closest to me..."

Callista stared at her somewhat-blankly. "Are you and Zesha...?"

The tailor giggled at this, shaking her head. "Dear, no! We wouldn't last a day together, really. He's a blunt idiot of a warrior, in my opinion, but then again I've known him for quite a long time. And I know I'm probably speaking too much, so don't say a peep about any of it, alright?" She then paused, before realizing- "Dear me, I didn't even introduce myself! How rude of me!" She pointed to herself as she spoke again. "My name is Yin. Pleased to talk with you, Lady Callista."

"Uh..." Callista smiled a bit, nodding. "Pleased to meet you, Yin."

Before Yin could speak again, Zesha entered the room. Sweat was pouring down his body again-probably from training with his brother-but Callista also noticed that there was a cut on his face as well, blood trickling from the wound.

Yin turned to face him, a gasp escaping her throat. "You're injured!"

"I'm fine." Zesha responded gruffly, crossing his arms.

The tailor crossed her arms, glaring at him. "Your face is bleeding!"

"I said I'm fine!"

"Dammit, Master Zesha, at least admit that the wound needs to be taken care of! Then you can say you're fine!"

Callista could have laughed at this, if she could will herself to, but she couldn't. It was obvious, though, that the relations between these two were beyond master and servant, but not lovers, either. Rather...it was a scuffle between brother and sister, trying to prove themselves right. She never would have imagined Zesha to have someone acting like some pouty younger sister to him...

"Yin, you are not my caretaker!" He scowled a bit, before speaking again. "Fine. I'll take care of it."

Yin smiled. "Good, Master Zesha. You have to keep your body in check, too-not just your training. Don't want to get sick again, do you?"

He let out a groan, shaking his head. "Shut up or I'll throw you through a window."

Yin just went silent, a playful smile on her face. Zesha glanced at Callista, before looking at Yin. "She hasn't been any trouble?"

"Nope. She's alright, Master Zesha." Yin then smiled a bit again. "I heard that your clothes were matching hers at the ball last night, Master Zesha! How thoughtful of you!"

He glared at her. "No. Talking. About. The ball." He snapped through gritted teeth. Yin cringed a bit, before nodding, realizing now that it was a touchy subject to speak about with either of the two with her.

"My apologies..."

Callista paused, before turning towards Zesha. "Wouldn't you want to bathe, now? I don't think all the sweat on you is that good..."

There was silence, before Zesha grabbed clothes from the dresser and then went into the bathroom, obviously not wishing to have a repeat of what happened earlier in the morning. As soon as the door closed behind him, Yin let out a quiet sigh before speaking.

"I suppose I shouldn't have mentioned that part. I don't know what happened between either of you last night, but I should probably assume that it wasn't pretty, was it...?"

Callista shook her head silently in response.

"I see." The tailor paused, before starting to leave. "I should go. I shouldn't be lingering around here too long-don't want anyone to get suspicious of me, after all. But, I'll tell you this. If there's any human that Zesha is going to open up to...it'll probably be you, at this rate. Good luck trying to make him understand your side of the entire scenario."

With that being said, the tailor walked out of the room without another word.

Callista wasn't sure what to think. What did Yin mean when she said that Zesha would open up to Callista, of all humans possible? Did Yin truly believe that Callista could...help Zesha, in a way? Callista didn't know. As far as she knew, she was doing him more bad than good, after all.

* * *

Zesha pounded a fist against the shower wall in frustration as warm water poured all over his body from above. Glaring at no one in particular, he leaned against the wall, letting out a breath as he let the liquid warmth consume his entire being.

Everything had been getting a bit better today...and then the ball just _had _to be mentioned again. This definitely wasn't his day.

Things had changed since Callista had come along, he was aware. He had expected her to be a nuisance, and yes, he had been correct.

What he hadn't been expecting was that she called him by name. _His name. _

Why? Why did she do such a thing? Why was she starting to call him by his name? That didn't...it didn't make sense. He was her enemy. She was his enemy. Enemies never treated the other like a friend, or took the other into consideration...

He just shook his head, trying to get rid of the thoughts.

_She is my enemy. My enemy she will be..._

* * *

**Author note: So...I guess I ended up adding an OC in here, after all. Yin belongs to me, and is based off the OC of the same name in a Last Story RP forum called 'Last World.' This Yin, however, differs quite a bit from the original RP OC Yin, just to warn those that participate in that forum...**


	8. Unnerving

**_8. Unnerving_**

_I hate this._

**_I hate this._**

_Dammit..._

Zesha crushed the fruit that he'd been eating in the courtyard with his hand, as he thought about his position of watching over Callista. It was starting to get unnerving to him-as in, even more unnerving than usual. It was eating away at his mind, nagging him constantly throughout the day, and annihilating his own sleep. He had enough of this-completely enough of these nagging thoughts.

Yet...the more he tried to ignore them, the stronger they got. And that necessarily wasn't good when one was right-hand man to Lord Zangurak and needed to focus on military tactics...

He let out a sigh, looking around the empty courtyard as he kept thinking about the past week. Callista had been alright-silent, yes, but then again he'd ignored her existence a lot during the first few days so that made perfect sense. Then, when he got sick, that was when she'd paid more attention to him. He assumed this was to try to gain brownie points with him, to get on his good side, but she was _human _and that obviously meant that she was probably trying to use him in some way. So, he had basically tried to shoot down her attempts.

Then, when he'd asked about why the filthy humans had to be so stubborn...well...when she made her point about the stubbornness issue, that really had him thinking. It had him thinking about the humans, his own race-even himself. Was he really that stubborn about his views? Perhaps-no, definitely.

Then when he had literally collapsed onto her, after being humiliated at the ball, she didn't stand there and let him almost die on the spot. She had saved his life-he admitted that to himself-and he didn't understand why she would do something like that.

She was his enemies. Enemies were not supposed to aid enemies. It made absolutely no sense to him at all.

Why did she help him? Why? It was getting so complicated with him...

Leaving the courtyard, he started to head back to his room, intent on checking on his captive.

* * *

Callista looked up as Zesha entered the room.

"Y-you're back." She managed to say quietly. Zesha looked down at her, remembering that she was still outside of the cage. She was still wearing that red dress (which Zesha wanted her to change out of soon-then again, he admitted that it did look nice on her...) and she had a small piece of bread in her hand, apparently in the middle of eating it when he arrived. Yin probably gave it to her earlier, out of pity. The tailor was too nice for her own good...

"You haven't made a fuss while I was gone?" He asked quietly, leaning against the door after closing it. Callista shook her head in response. "Good..." He paused, glancing at Callista for a moment before looking away. The two were silent again, unsure of what to say.

Zesha occasionally glanced at Callista as he took out a few daggers from his belt, glancing at them as well. The blades were clean, and well-polished as well. He rarely used the how-many-daggers hidden on him because no one ever really knocked the swords from his grasp in battle, but it was always good to practice in case. Twirling one of the daggers in his hands, he threw it at the wall across from him.

A gasp tore from his hostage's throat when the dagger hit the wall directly, sticking deep into the stone. Callista looked surprised at this, and he knew that the reaction was to be expected. She had never seen him with the knives before, after all. Walking over to the wall, he pulled the dagger out of it quietly as he glanced at her again.

"I-I didn't know you could do that." Callista spoke up quietly, making eye contact with him.

He merely nodded in response. "I've been able to do it for ages." He admitted quietly, sheathing the daggers and sitting on the floor only a few paces from her, watching her quietly. The two were silent again, before the Countess-to-be spoke again.

"Have you gotten any better?"

He blinked, unsure of what she just said. "Pardon?"

"Are you any better?" She asked again. "From...being sick and all..."

Zesha hesitated, before speaking again, averting his eyes from hers. "Better, I suppose." He finally managed. "I do not plan on dying anytime soon."

She smiled faintly at that. "I'm glad you're alright..."

He just didn't respond, looking away from her completely.

Why was she being so kind to him? They were enemies. Enemies were not supposed to be nice to enemies...right?

* * *

**Author note: Yay! New chapter! Though it is a bit short... *sweatdrop* Thanks to all of you guys for reading this fic so far, and reviewing it as well-I really appreciate it. XD**


	9. Realization

**_9. Realization_**

"You've gotten _stronger,_ human."

Therius gritted his teeth as he felt Zepha slam him against the wall, grabbing him with one hand by the waist and gripping onto a particularly bruised area to make the pain stronger. The white knight refused to scream or beg for mercy. Callista had bravely tried to defend him some few days ago. If she could be so brave, why not Therius himself?

Zepha hesitated, before he blasted Therius with a Shining spell again, the knight letting out a grunt of pain when he was hit. Unlike Zesha, Zepha was different when it came to torture techniques. He wouldn't go physically beat them like Zesha did, but he would implement his magic for this situation instead...

Therius coughed, trying to stand properly, trying to speak.

"Surprised you haven't noticed that I'm not as beaten as usual, until now." The knight hissed back. "Your brother hasn't come down here for the past few _days_...I wonder why that is...?"

Zepha frowned at this, before backhanding the knight in the face, making him to land on the ground with a sickening thud. Therius winced-not just from the pain of being backhanded, but from the cuts and bruises all over him. Therius shut his eyes, expecting to be hit with a spell.

He didn't receive any more attacks. Instead, he heard Zepha's footsteps fade away after the door of his cell was locked. The white knight blinked in surprise, wondering if it was only now that Zepha had actually noticed this. He wondered if Callista was alright-if she was bearing Zesha's presence, if she was still in decent health...he just hoped that she was alright.

He would find a way to break out of this place. He just had to observe carefully to try to find a kink in the security...

* * *

Zesha let out a quiet breath, glancing at Callista silently for a moment as he tried to think about what exactly was going on his mind about this human. She was different, yes, unlike the other humans he had ever faced. Despite her being an enemy, he did not feel as strong of such hatred for her as he did before. Was it because she saved his life? Made him think about what he had been doing, about his own stubbornness? Because of how pretty-

No. _No. _He looked away. Zesha wasn't going there-physical appearances meant almost nothing to him. Though she _did _look pretty for a human, he admitted quietly, glancing at her again before looking away. Putting that aside, though...

Well, she was a human. She was his enemy. Not someone that he could grow closer to, closer than a mere ally at his side.

...Right?

_I can't._

He glanced at Callista once again-only to realize that she was looking at him. He looked away immediately, hoping that she hadn't noticed him staring at her for the past couple of minutes.

"Are you alright?" She spoke quietly, but she was loud enough for him to hear.

When he didn't answer, she persisted.

"Are you alright, Zes-"

"I'm fine." He muttered quietly, cutting her off quickly. He hoped that his unease did not show in his voice... "I'm just...fine, if you're wondering."

There was silence, before she spoke.

"...You're _not_ fine."

He wasn't sure what to say in response. If she had said that in the beginning, when they first met, he would have snapped at her and insisted that he was alright. But now...

"You're right," He spat out bitterly, figuring that he might as well admit it all._ "I'm not fine."_

Callista didn't say a thing, and he looked towards her as he continued.

"You...have done so much to help me. Never said a thing to be harmful...you only _healed._ How do you bear being with someone who can nothing but _hurt?"_

She hesitated, before speaking.

"I think anyone is capable of healing and hurting, even those that seem to do more harm than help." She started slowly. Pausing again, she took a deep breath before continuing. "I'm sure that if you really wished to try to help, you can."

Zesha looked away from her-and perfect timing, too, as Zepha suddenly entered the room.

"Brother," Zesha's older twin rasped, "Prepare for battle. Those filthy _humans_ have come to attack."


	10. Escape

**_10. Escape_**

Therius heard the yells of soldiers and the clashing of swords from above. The white knight could barely stand, and he clutched at the bars of his cell weakly. If there was fighting...General Asthar and the other knights could be here. And if that was so, they could rescue Lady Callista.

"Is anyone in here?"

Therius bolted to attention, just as a couple of Lazulis Knights made their way into the prison area, accompanied by none other than General Asthar.

"G-General...Asthar..." Therius managed to cough out, trying to catch the General's attention. "I'm...here..."

"Sir Therius!" Therius nearly collapsed on the spot as General Asthar and a Lazulis mage approached him quickly. Asthar immediately ordered the mage to use healing magic. "Are you alright?"

Therius nodded, grateful for the healing effect working quickly on his body. It was a balm from all the torture he had taken from Zepha and Zesha for the past week. "I'm fine now, General. Lady Callista is under watch by one of the two right-hand men of Zangurak-specifically, Zesha. I don't know where they would be right now..."

Asthar helped Therius stand properly as he spoke again. "Bring Sir Therius back to the Lazulis ship," Asthar told the mage and knights with him. "He'll need to recover there..."

Therius shook his head quickly, loosening himself from Asthar's grip. "General Asthar, Lady Callista is in danger! I-We-we_ have_ to find her! _Now!"_

Going completely against General Asthar's orders to stop, Therius ran as fast as he could.

* * *

Zesha and Zepha both rushed down the hallway, shooting Bolt Arrows and other spells at the Lazulis knights while dragging Callista along with them. The Countess-to-be didn't know what to do at this point-

_"Aagh!" _

And Yin of all people nearly ran into the three of them, the Gurak tailor obviously looking very distressed, surprised and, well...actually, that described her expression completely well enough. "Master Zesha, Master Zepha, what's going on? _Why_ are there soldiers running around? _Why_ are people screaming and destroying everyone else's beauty sleep-"

_"Yin." _Zepha snapped, glaring at her and obviously annoyed. "We're _under attack_ by those filthy humans. Isn't that _obvious!?"_

"Oh...whoops..."

Zepha just didn't respond, turning towards Zesha. "Do you have any idea where a good place would be to hide the Countess-to-be from the other humans? That way they won't be able to recapture her..."

Zesha glanced around, unsure. "I doubt the dungeons would be a good place-that would be the first place where the humans would look, brother..."

_"Stop right there!"_

The four turned to see Therius. The white knight was not wearing any armor, the only article of clothing being trousers and a shirt so torn that even the poorest would not bother wearing it. He must have escaped from the dungeon with the help of Lazulis knights-there was no sign of any wounds on his person, as Callista realized.

This also mean that he had no weapon. Knowing Therius, though, he would try to protect Callista-even with his bare hands if it came to that.

Yin leapt back slightly as Therius tried to punch her out of the way. "Hey, hold on! I'm a tailor, not a warrior!" She snapped, taking out what appeared to be a needle after dodging another punch from Therius.

Before Callista could warn the white knight, the needle struck Therius in the left bare shoulder. The knight staggered back one or two steps, trying to take out the needle with one hand, before his legs shakily gave way underneath him. The knight landed on the ground with a thud, and Callista drew in a breath.

"...Alright, I lied. Sorry for the sudden loss of movement-there_ is_ so much one can do with poisoned needles, after all." Yin muttered, her expression completely monotone. "Though I'm technically not a warrior-just your everyday undercover assassin."

Zepha let out a huff. "You have no need to apologize to the _human_, Yin." He spoke sternly, taking out both swords as he started walking towards the fallen knight. "I will finish him off."

Callista tried to step inbetween Zepha and Therius, but Zesha grabbed her by the wrist, glaring at her as if saying _'Stay out of the way.'_

As if she was truly going to stand aside and let Therius just die. Without hesitation, she summoned her Holy magic and blasted first Zesha out of the way, and then Zepha, sending both brothers to the ground. The Countess-to-be rushed over to Therius, pulling the needle out of his shoulder.

"Sir Therius, can you move...?" She whispered, praying that Therius was alright.

Therius winced, trying to move his legs. "I think I'm...paralyzed..." He rasped, still struggling to get his limbs to obey. Callista heard the clicking of metal, and she turned to see Zepha standing, letting both of his swords sharpen against the debris on the ground. He looked angry-far angrier than she had seen him be before.

Zesha looked up at his brother, shaking his head. "Brother...it's against Lord Zangurak's orders-we _can't_ harm the Countess-to-be!"

Zepha sheathed both swords, the blue aura around him growing larger and brighter as he began to summon a spell. "She has tested my patience for long enough." He hissed, rage building up in his eyes as he continued to summon the spell. "And she has attacked not just myself, but you. This is all for you, brother..._all for you!_"

With that, Zepha cast the spell.

Callista closed her eyes, expecting to be hit.

Instead, she felt the presence of someone rushing in front of her, and then a pained scream.

The Countess-to-be wasn't sure what to do, or say. Then, hesitating for a moment before doing so, she opened her eyes, blinking a bit.

Debris lay everywhere, all around her. Therius was still by her side, alright, but Zesha was also slowly getting up, a pained groan escaping his throat. Yin was nearby, coughing a bit as she waved dust away from her face.

And Zepha...Zepha was crumpled on the ground, several feet away from them. He was still for a moment, like the dead, and Callista wondered if Zesha had actually killed his own brother for a moment.

That was when Zepha began to move. He said nothing a first, but then his voice quickly turned to panic.

"I-I can't-I can't-no! _No!" _Zepha continued to grow even more panicked, his hands held out in front of his face. _"No,_ I _can't_-I can't-_can't-see-"_

A gasp tore from Zesha's throat, and he got to his feet, rushing quickly to his brother's side.

"Zepha-I-" Zesha tried to speak, but Zepha punched him in the face.

_"You've blinded me, dammit! You've blinded me!" _The other twin screamed, his movements becoming wilder as his voice was drained of any calmness it once had, full of panic and sobs.

Zesha embraced his brother tightly, restraining the other from trying to move.

"Please, brother, calm down..." He glanced behind him, realizing too soon that the Lazulis knights were approaching. Callista felt Zesha grab her by the wrist, yanking her away from Therius. "Yin, come with us!"

The assassin tailor nodded, rushing towards the three and grabbed onto Zesha-

-and Therius grabbed her weakly by the ankle, determined not to lose Callista.

"Let go!" Yin tried to yank her ankle away from Therius' grip, but he was too strong. "Dammit! Is he_ that_ bloody resilient to my needles!? He shouldn't be able to move an inch-"

"Yin, there is _no time-"_ Zesha snapped back, before the red aura surrounding his being flared upwards, brighter than before. "We have to get out of here. _Now."_

Before any of the Lazulis knights could reach them, they were gone.

* * *

Callista found herself on soft, grassy ground. Sitting up quickly, she looked around to see Therius still lying on the ground, Yin trying to help Zepha sit up, leaning against a nearby tree, and Zesha, shaking his head, his face covered with one hand. Moonlight was the only source of light-otherwise, everything would have been darkness around her.

"Wh-where are we?" Callista managed to say, coughing a little. Some of the dust from earlier probably must have gotten to her from the earlier chaos. She tried to help Therius get into a sitting position as she spoke.

Therius glanced around, taking note of his surroundings. "...I believe this may be the Vono Islands..." He trailed off, before making eye contact with Callista. "Lady Callista, are you alright?"

She nodded quickly. "I'm fine, but..." She glanced at Zepha, unsure of what else to say. Zepha wasn't screaming anymore, or thrashing around, but he was still crying, for the loss of his sight.

"This is all your damn fault."

The two looked up to see Zesha, the anger in his eyes directly glaring down at the Countess-to-be. Before Therius could do anything, he grabbed Callista by the neck, forcing her to stand.

"Zesha-" Callista started-

Her captor backhanded her in the face. _Hard._

For one instant, Zesha immediately reminded her of her uncle-what he had done to her so many times...

Therius glared at Zesha, still struggling to move properly, but Zesha kicked him out of the way before he could do a thing.

_"Filthy human,"_ Zesha seethed, his eyes directly glaring into Callista's own as his face contorted into a complete snarl. "This is _all your fault._ If_ you_ hadn't interfered..."

"Master Zesha, quit it!" The two turned to see Yin, glaring at the both of them as she got to her feet. "_You're_ the one who blinded Zepha, not her!"

"She's the one that attacked him_-twice-_in the first place!" The other snapped back, sending a Bolt Arrow whizzing past Yin and hitting the tree just millimetres from her head. "I just-I-" He shook his head, before storming off. "Don't follow me!"

"Zesha!"

Zesha was already gone. Yin shook her head, glancing at Zepha before glancing at Callista, who put a hand to where Zesha backhanded her. The assassin tailor didn't know what to say, and instead approached Zepha, trying her best to tend to his wounds.

Callista sat back down on the grass, using her healing magic to numb her stinging cheek.

...Perhaps this was entirely to blame on her, after all.

* * *

**Author note: ...Uh...was the combat scene okay? Any way to make it better...? Thanks for reading and reviewing so far-it's all appreciated. :)**


	11. Apologies

_11. Apologies_

Zesha let out a breath as he looked around, knowing fully well that he was alone.

"What did I do...?" He muttered quietly, glancing down at himself before getting lost in thought.

He blinded his own brother. _His own brother. _He didn't mean for that to happen, he really didn't. He was only protecting her because if he hadn't, Zepha would have broken Zangurak's orders not to have her harmed...

And then he went and broke said orders by backhanding her so harshly.

What if she was bruised? Did he give her a black eye? What did she ever do to make it 'her fault?" Nothing, of course. He just went and vented all that frustration, anger, stress-_everything-_on her.

"I hurt her again..."

He looked downwards, still thinking.

_All I can ever do...is to hurt her..._

* * *

Therius frowned a bit, looking around quietly. He had fully recovered from the paralysis needle, much to his relief, but Zepha was still blind, Callista's healing powers couldn't do much about that, and speaking of Callista she was...currently not in the best mood. The white knight thought it best to give her some time by herself and instead he focused on making sure there was no one around to threaten her or the others.

He glanced at Yin, who looked at him before shrugging once. She paused, before speaking.

"Don't worry. Zesha will come back. He's just pretty frustrated at everything."

"I see..." Therius paused, unsure if he wished to say anything, before Yin spoke up again, leaning against a tree close to him.

"How did you get past my needles so quickly?"

He raised an eyebrow, looking at her quietly as she continued to speak.

"I mean, usually people have to wait _days _before they regain their movement, but you were able to get past it in a matter of minutes..." Yin seemed to grin at that. "You know, you might actually make for a decent sparring partner if you weren't an enemy. You have guts to go at me barehanded. No one else has done that except for you, Zepha and Zesha."

He nodded in agreement. This Gurak woman was different than the other Gurak, as he discovered-far nicer than his torturous experiences with Zepha and Zesha. _And _she was a good opponent in battle, he admitted-he hadn't been expecting the needles in the first place. She lacked the formality of the Gurak twins, but made up for it in style, as he noted from her attire, and friendliness towards him despite the fact that they were supposed to be enemies. She almost seemed too easy to talk to, but it could always be a way for him to slip. Though he doubted that she could do too much harm to him at the moment...

He paused, before speaking. "I subjected myself to several types of poisons during my training as a knight. I felt that if I did so, I would be able to...increase my resistance greatly." Therius couldn't help but remember those times-General Asthar hadn't been too happy about it, but it proved to be worth the pain in later battles...

"Looks like it worked, then." The assassin tailor smiled at Therius in approval. "Perhaps I ought to drown my needles in stronger poison next time. Let's see how you do with that the next time we get a chance to fight."

Therius paused, before nodding again. "Agreed."

Yin let out a sigh. "Gee, do you have to be so formal? You're the only legitimate knight here, chatting with your everyday tailor who has the skills of an assassin. Surely you can give up a bit of formality..." She then paused, looking around. "Ah, crap. Lady Callista is gone."

"What?!" Therius got to his attention, looking around before starting to rush off. "Lady Callista..."

"Oy, no!" Yin pulled him back. "You're staying here with Zepha, because there are spiders here and I can't have you two being eaten alive while I'm gone! You don't even have a weapon with you!"

"A knight's duty," Therius hissed back as he tried to loosen his wrist from the other's grasp, "is to protect those who-"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it! But you're still in no shape to fight!"

Therius gave her a look. "If I have to lose all my limbs_ and_ life to find Lady Callista and bring her back here, I will!"

Yin paused, before letting go of Therius. "Alright. You can go find her. But you're bringing a weapon in case." Yin took out a sword, handing it to him. "Here. Use it for now. I don't use it much, anyway..."

Therius nodded. "Thank you..." He paused, before rushing off further into the forest, hoping that Callista would be alright...

Yin heard Zepha cough a bit, and she turned to face him as he spoke.

"You actually trust that human?" He asked, a bit of sharpness in his voice.

Yin shrugged. "Trust? Enough for him to use a sword and _not_ kill us? Yeah. Might as well-he doesn't even have any _armor_ on to protect himself with. To save his life? Ehh...not yet." She chuckled a bit. "In fact, it makes me wonder if he'll be able to find Callista and come back intact. Without proper protection, he's a sitting duck...just like how he was with the needles earlier."

Zepha still didn't seem convinced. "Just make sure you get the sword back eventually. Even if you don't use it that often, you might need it sometime."

* * *

Callista looked around, trying to find Zesha.

He was still not back yet and it was starting to worry her. What if he got attacked by one of the spiders lingering around here? Or what if...?

It was then that she noticed a flickering of a reddish aura-an aura that she was far too familiar with by now.

"Zesha!?"

Her Gurak captor turned to face her, an almost bewildered look on his face as she made eye contact with him. Callista paused, before speaking again.

"Are you alright...?"

The other paused, before speaking.

"What are you doing here, Calli-I mean, human?" He managed. "Would your fellow human companion not be worried about you going alone?"

Callista glanced behind her momentarily, remembering Therius, before speaking. "Your brother and Yin were getting worried." She finally responded after a moment of hesitation.

The other let out a weak laugh. "I suppose I let my mind wander for too long..." He paused, before noticing her face. "Your face, it..."

Callista shrugged a bit. "I just healed it. It wasn't anything major."

"I see." He paused, before speaking again. "My apologies...about earlier. It wasn't...right to blame _you_ for a mess that_ I_ obviously created."

"Oh-"

"You don't have to say anything else about it. I'm fully aware that it is my fault for slapping you in the face, disobeying Lord Zangurak's commands not to harm you, blinding my own brother, and nearly killing the white knight."

Before Callista could speak up, that was when Therius rushed into the clearing.

"Lady Callista! There you are-" He stopped midsentence as soon as he noticed Zesha. "So you were here as well..." He paused, before speaking. "We should head back. I don't believe going separate ways at this time would be a good idea-even if we are enemies."

Zesha didn't say anything for a moment, before finally nodding.

"...Agreed." With that, he turned on his heel and starting going the opposite direction where Therius came from, the other two following quickly.

* * *

**Author note: Apologies for the delay in updates to any of my fanfics in this category, as writers' block and life outside fanfiction were keeping me busy. Hopefully I can update some other fics such as Carnevale di Felicita, perhaps put up a oneshot, and...**

**If I ended up starting another fic somehow soon (though it would be extremely insane for me to do so at this stage because I should REALLY update Carnevale di Felicita first), do you think you guys would be cool with a fic that takes place between the canon!characters of the Last Story and the carnie!characters of the Last Story (which is in my fic Carnevale di Felicita)? Thanks for your patience, and reviews, and I hope you continue reading this fic and the others I've written for the fandom! Thanks! XD **


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